Huevos Rancheros is one of my husband’s favorite things to order at our local Mexican restaurant. Much to his dismay, it’s only available on the lunch menu. We eat so much tex-mex at home, I figured it was about time I gave this classic peasant dish a shot. I had picked some up chorizo at the grocery store last week – so I went ahead and worked it into the recipe. The fat that rendered off the sausage was perfect for cooking the onions – wafting porky goodness throughout the entire dish.

A pretty easy breakfast to throw together on a weekend morning. And, it surely mixes up the pancakes and sausage routine. Also makes for a wonderfully easy dinner, as most folks already have these items on hand. Try this soon!

To make the sauce, add 1 tbsp olive oil to a large skillet and brown chorizo, breaking apart with a wooden spoon. Once nice and browned, remove from pan and set aside. Add onions to the rendered fat and cook for several minutes, until translucent and starting to brown around edges. Add garlic and cumin, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, along with their juice. Return the cooked chorizo to the pan. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, and let simmer while you do the rest of the cooking, stirring occasionally. Reduce to warm after it has been simmering for 10 minutes. Add salt to taste if needed.

Heat the oven to a warm 150°F, place serving plates in the oven to keep warm. Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a large non-stick skillet on medium high, coating the pan with the oil. Heat the tortillas in the pan, a minute or two on each side, until they are heated through, softened, and pockets of air bubble up inside of them. Then remove them and stack them on one of the warming plates in the oven to keep warm while you continue cooking the rest of the tortillas and the eggs.

Using the same skillet as was used for the tortillas, add a little butter to the pan, about two teaspoons for 4 eggs. Heat the pan on medium high heat. Crack 4 eggs into the skillet and cook for 3 to 4 minutes for runny yolks, more for firmer eggs.

To serve, spoon a little of the sauce onto a warmed plate. Top with a tortilla, then a fried egg. Top with more sauce, sprinkle with cilantro if desired.

They actually carry a higher quality chorizo at my local megamart now. But, whenever I go to Annapolis/DC I stock up on the good stuff at Whole Foods or Wegmans. If I were in PA, that’s definitely where I’d go first!